Madam Deputy Speaker, I just want to respond to hon Mpontshane's statement. I agree with the hon Mpontshane that free, fair and peaceful by-elections are an essential part of our democracy. They are a good indicator of the electoral support of any political party in a democracy.
Indeed, it would be wrong to write the IFP out of our political landscape while it managed to retain four out of five of its former wards in KwaZulu- Natal. However, Mr Mpontshane left out two of the most glaring facts with regard to these elections. The first one is that the IFP, while it has won some of the elections, has shown a considerable decline in both actual percentages and numbers in those wards.
Yet the other party, the ANC, has made considerable strides in all those wards in terms of the actual numbers and percentages of people voting for the ANC. In fact, in addition, the ANC has taken one of the wards in Mnambithi from the IFP.
The second glaring fact is that the IFP must stop this cheap political point-scoring. Indeed, the time has come for the IFP to get into serious discussions with the ANC if we want to stabilise South Africa in KwaZulu- Natal. Thank you. [Applause.]